Hong Kong Trip 25 February to 4 March 2014

Charlie Dittmeier and the deaf communities of Hong Kong and Macau scheduled a retreat to take place at the beginning of Lent. Before he could buy his ticket, Maryknoll informed Charlie that he was due for some regular training and it would be offered in Hong Kong a few days before the retreat, so he advanced his arrival date. Then a prospective donor to the Deaf Development Programme arranged a meeting so the trip ended up having three different purposes.

Travel Day 25 February 2014

I was planning to arrive at the Phnom Penh airport about 5:30 PM and allowed time for the terrible traffic at that time of day. On a major road two carts, one pushed by a man, the other by a motorcycle, traveled together toward the spot where they would set up and serve supper.
This woman set up a rice meal shop in front of her home. Each day she prepares five or six big pots of different dishes and serves till it's gone.
Arriving at the airport I checked in and then went to eat on the street because supper on the plane would not be served until 8:00 PM. This woman has a motorcycle cart, complete with stove, on which she prepares noodle meals.
She has a propane-fueled stove on the cart for her wok but the soup base she cooks on charcoal pots beside the cart.
Here she leans into her work. You can't see the wok but she is frying noodles and a few vegetables and then tops them with a fried egg. It's eaten with chopsticks.
My DragonAir flight went directly to Hong Kong and I quickly changed some money, bought a HK SIM card for my phone, bought a roundtrip ticket on the Airport Express train, and was on my way. At the other end, in the Central District in Hong Kong, I got a taxi and was out at the Maryknoll House in Stanley about midnight. It was too late to go to my scheduled room at the retreat center so I slept on a couch in a small meeting room.

Pre-Chapter Meetings 26 February 2014

About fifty Maryknoll brothers and priests gathered at the Hong Kong Maryknoll House in Stanley for meetings in anticipation of the Society's big chapter meeting later this year.
Many of the guys hadn't seen each other for several years so each of the coffee breaks was filled with conversations of old friends catching up with each other.
The house had seating set up outside for the breaks, taking advantage of the pleasant weather, but other groups were not hesitant to sit down inside.
Some of the conversations turned to business, such as Kevin Conroy and Jim Mylet talking about their similar work in mental health.
For meals, the big dining room--used only for very large groups--was the scene of several days of really nice meals, served Chinese style.
At the end of the meal, Fr. Brian Barron (R) recognized the 60, 50, 40, and 25 years that some of the men had served as Maryknoll priests.

Training for Maryknoll Priests 27 February 2014

For many of the visiting Maryknollers from various countries, the day started off with a morning liturgy at which Fr. Ken Slayman from Japan presided, together with a Maryknoll deacon assisting.
The Maryknoll chapel in the Maryknoll Stanley House in Hong Kong is an impressive place. Built in a Chinese style, it reflects both the culture of the Chinese host country and the era in which it was built. It has been well maintained over the years.
The official pre-chapter meetings were over yesterday, but twelve of the Maryknollers today attended a training on the prevention of sexual abuse. All US priests are required to take the training at least every three years. Some of the Maryknollers had participated in the training in their mission countries, but today John Moran was present from Maryknoll, New York to work with the group here that was due to be updated.
Although the pre-chapter meetings finished yesterday, many of the men were still here today and the lunch tables were once again full and lively.
Charlie Dittmeier and Adam Gudalefsky were co-Maryknollers in the Hong Kong region before Charlie moved to Cambodia. They are both good friends of Fr. Gerry Timmel in Louisville, Kentucky and today took a photo to send to Gerry.

Meeting Day 28 February 2014

Today was a day for meetings away from the Maryknoll House in Stanley. Early in the morning I took the bus from the south side of Hong Kong Island over the hill to Central Hong Kong along the harbor. This is one of the spectacular views along the way. Hong Kong is amazing because these high-rises are residential buildings, not commercial buildings. Probably only 1% or 2% of Hong Kong people live in single-family dwellings. The rest live in skyscrapers.
The first of the two meetings was with Sr. Arlene Trant, a Maryknoll Sister who works with deaf people in Macau. She took an early boat to Hong Kong and we met at the Macau Ferry Pier and then went to the downtown Catholic Centre and borrowed a room where we could spend the morning working on the retreat plans for tomorrow.
After we finished the retreat planning, we had a quick lunch at McDonald's and then Arlene headed back to Macau, 40 miles away by sea. I walked along busy downtown streets to the next meeting which was with a potential donor for the Deaf Development Programme in Cambodia. The donor's office was in one of the skyscrapers overlooking the beautiful harbor.
On the way back the #6 bus went along Deepwater Bay, just a few minutes from the downtown area but a decidedly different environment with more wooded hills next to the sea.
In 1929 Maryknoll bought a wooded hilltop as far from downtown Central as one could get on Hong Kong Island. There were no other buildings around and only a dirt road leading up to the top of the hill where they build a Chinese-style center. Today the Stanley area is an enclave for expatriate business people and well-to-do Hong Kongers.
Here is another view of the Maryknoll House in Stanley on the southside of Hong Kong Island. It has the Maryknoll offices plus rooms for retreat groups of maybe 50 people.

Retreat Day 1 1 March 2014

Saturday morning was spent in preparation for the retreat at Stanley and then after lunch I took the bus into Central. The vistas of Hong Kong never fail to impress me, both the scenes of mountain nature and those of the urban areas.
Along the waterfront where the tourists pass, this large mural proclaims some of the items for which Hong Kong is famous.
We met at the Cheung Chau ferry pier and traveled together to the island. This was one of the fast ferries and the trip took about 40 minutes.
Once we stepped off the ferry, we were among hundreds of weekend holiday people who come to the islands for a break and for fresh air and environment--although the beauty of the island isn't so visible here just as you get off the boat.
We stayed at the Salesian Retreat Center which is across the island from the ferry pier, about a thirty-minute walk up and down the hills of the steep terrain. We took our time and enjoyed the conversations as we went.
After going over some of the house rules for the weekend, Charlie Dittmeier began the first talk of the retreat which focused on prayer and especially on an understanding of the Our Father. Peggy Fung was standing by to assist as an interpreter when Charlie's Cantonese and Hong Kong Sign Language failed him.
We had nearly thirty people for the retreat and they were a lively group, not afraid to be engaged.
We had three tables in the retreat center dining room and enjoyed a good meal together. The center provides very simple fare but it is good and plentiful.
In the evening, Sr. Arlene Trant began the second session, with a focus on reconciliation as a key idea from the Our Father prayer.
To make a point of the church's development of ideas about reconciliation, Arlene and Charlie took differing positions, Arlene representing the idea of "confession" as most of the retreatants had learned about it, and then Charlie offering a newer emphasis on reconciliation that he and Arlene had discussed yesterday at their meeting in Central.
After the talk and after a night prayer, the groups worked to prepare the scripture readings for the liturgy on Sunday. Instead of just proclaiming the readings, the groups acted them out in simple skits to emphasize the main ideas.

Retreat Day 2 2 March 2014

The morning started off with exercises for the whole group. These early arrivals walked a labyrinth that is laid out as part of the retreat center as an aid for meditation, a new concept for most people who go there for retreats.
The whole island is quite hilly as can be seen in this photograph of the open play area and then retreat buildings on top of the hill.
This is one group at breakfast after the morning exercise.
After each meal, each person is responsible for washing his or her own dishes. Probably the health agencies in many countries would not approve of all the dishes being dried with towels hanging on racks in the washing area but it gets the job done.
The morning talk, the third of the retreat, was focused on the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but before the talk started, each retreatant was invited to write a short personal prayer that was posted on a large piece of paper.
When the session started, it began with a presentation on prayer by Lo Shuk Han who was assisted by her husband Chan Tak Ming.
Then Sr. Arlene and Charlie Dittmeier explored some ideas about sin and forgiveness and reconciliation among people.
A time for individual confessing of sins was provided after the talk, and then it was time for a closing liturgy in the big chapel. Here the group from Macau sing an opening song.
With a small group like this one, it is possible to have a more personal experience of gathering and community and of eucharist.
Before departing from the chapel, we took a group photo to help all of us remember this weekend.
Then we had a final meal together, packed up the last of our belongings, and headed back to the ferry.
We took a different route back to the ferry pier, but it was just as much up and down hill as the path we took to the center the day before.

Free Day 28 February 2014

Having spent the money to get to Hong Kong, I scheduled an extra day there to enjoy my favorite city. I went up this small street with shops stalls in Central to visit my former travel agent.
Sef Lam (standing) is the director of Via Vai Travel in Hong Kong, the travel agency that provided me with tickets for my travels during the years I lived there. We've kept in touch over the years and today I had a chance to see her in person. With her is one of her staff, Maribel.
One of my favorite places in the former colony is Ap Liu Street, a mecca for electronics geeks. Two or three blocks are set aside for street stalls and every possible tool, connector, cable, battery, etc., is available there. I bought two big packages of batteries to use in Phnom Penh plus some clocks plus a knife plus a digital device power pack.
This is the shop where I found the batteries I needed. They also had batteries for my hearing aid at about a third of the price I pay in Phnom Penh.
A popular cold-weather snack in Hong Kong are these hot sweet potatoes, slowly heated by a charcoal fire.
This is the face of the Hong Kong commercial building that has developed over the years, gradually getting taller and then adding air conditioners. Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers work and live in these buildings.
From a elevated pedestrian walkway, an innovative alternative to the streets crowded with vehicles and people, some of the iconic forms of transportation are noted: the trams, the double-decker buses, the delivery trucks, the armored cars, and, of course, the pedestrians.

Travel Day 4 March 2014

I was lucky to get a free cab ride into town with two others going that way from the Stanley House and found myself in Central an hour early. Passengers can check in downtown, without going first to the airport, so I did that and then went to Via Vai Travel again to see one of the staff I missed yesterday but she was gone again so I walked over to the Star Ferry and took a ride to the Kowloon side.
This clock tower marked the train station that was the end of the Orient Express coming from Europe. The tower is all that is left after the station was relocated. I walked around a bit and then ate at McDonald's before heading back.
The Star Ferry is one of those items that should be on everyone's list before he or she dies. It's a real landmark. The piers have changed but not the ferries or the way the crews launch and dock the boats. Now with my senior citizen fare card, I rode for free!
I went back to the Hong Kong Station and caught the Airport Express train for a 25-minute ride to the airport and went straight to immigration and then to Gate 509 where this DragonAir Airbus 320 was waiting to take us back to Phnom Penh in a two-hour and ten-minute flight.
Once in Phnom Penh, a different reality was immediately present. A garment factory near the airport was finishing a shift and hundreds of mostly young women came pouring out on to the streets.